Practice

The hits just keep on coming.

Ever wish you were somebody else? Well, thieves have been making it happen at a more rapid pace, hijacking the identities of mutual fund customers and other patrons of the financial services industry and reeking havoc at an alarming rate.

Putnam Investments last week announced it is improving the fee disclosure in Putnam CollegeAdvantage, the 529 plan it runs in Ohio, and also reducing the plan's annual maintenance fee.

Have you wondered what will become of the rapscallions who are guilty of ripping off mutual fund investors?

Traditionally, bulge-bracket firms have given away research in exchange for trading volume and high trading commissions. The commissions paid for part of the research, while investment-banking fees paid for the rest. Over time, Wall Street firms built up expensive operations, flush with highly paid salespeople and large travel and entertainment budgets.

The corporate makeover at Janus Capital continued last week as CEO Mark Whiston, 42, quit and was replaced by board chairman Steve Scheid, 50.

The $675 million price tag agreed to by Bank of America and FleetBoston to settle charges in the mutual fund scandal was extremely high, but the companies agreed that expeditious handling of the charges was paramount to closing their merger, the vice chairman of BoA said in a recent CNBC interview.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is facing a class-action lawsuit in relation to the market timing scandal battering the mutual fund industry. The suit, filed by New York law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, claims CIBC facilitated the illegal late trading conducted by MFS and helped defraud investors. It spans from 2001 to 2003. Also named in the suit is Paul Flynn, the former CIBC managing director of equity investment accused of providing financing for hedge funds that engaged in the late trading and timing activities. CIBC has yet to file a statement of defense.

Bank of America employees will have to sign a revised code of ethics document as a result of regulators' probe of improper trading at its mutual fund unit.

The SEC voted unanimously last Tuesday to adopt measures to improve the transparency of mutual funds and variable annuities. Beginning Dec. 5, all funds must now disclose what risks, if any, market timing poses for their funds, as well as reveal in their fund prospectuses whether their board has adopted rules against market timing. Should a board have decided such rules are not necessary, it must spell out its reasons why.